The Night the Lights Went Out On Christmas

Every year since 1960

The Johnsons have filled their yard

With nifty blinking reindeer

Dancing dwarves and stars

It started kind of innocently

Just some lights within a tree

And then the mailbox got all lit up

Then the chimney and then the eaves

And then the half-shell merry was blinking neon blue

Then their hydrant, the doghouse

And then they built a petting zoo

With electric reindeer, llamas, horses, donkeys, mules

And a life-sized baby Jesus

Sparkling like a desert jewel

Well, the lights so rattled the neighborhood

That the Smiths planned a revolt

Led by a neon Santa Claus

Who buzzed and sparked a thousand jolts

The Williams rolled out cotton snow

The Wheelers pinched a Grinch

Mr. Greenberg lit a menorah

With eight-foot flames and did not flinch

Well, things got so darn cluttered

That every house along the street

Vanished beneath the twinkling junk

Like pajamas beneath the sheets

And with each new year, this competition

Brought about a family tradition

To see who could outdo themselves

With barking penguins, sleighs and elves

And pretty soon, from miles around

People came to Medford town

To see the sights on Christmas block

The lights come on at six o'clock

And the cars, they came in droves and droves

Driving at their leisure

They would gawk and squawk and stare in shock

While their children had near seizures

Well, even up in outer space

Astronauts could see the place

The Christmas lights, so bright to see

Made them homesick for their families

But then one Christmas it all did change

There was no space left to arrange

In all the Johnsons' neighborhood

Except the top where one tree stood

So Missy Johnson took a star

And on a ladder leaning far